Small Town, Big Vibe, Big Ten
Three-star AZ QB Tyler Shough visited campus over the weekend. As you'd expect, the outlook is still quite good after he got one-on-one time with Jim Harbaugh. From Scout's Blair Angulo:
"It was a great experience to continue building that relationship with the coaches," Shough told Scout.com. "Coach Harbaugh has a great track record, but he's an even cooler guy in person when you get to talk to him. The whole experience, the whole environment in Ann Arbor was amazing because it has a small-town [feel], but you get a big-town vibe to it as well. Walking around the streets with coach Harbaugh, he's like a celebrity. Eating lunch with him was a cool experience.
In that same interview, Shough detailed a discussion with Harbaugh about how Michigan would manage bringing in two quarterbacks in the same class with different skill sets:
"The coaches told me that whichever quarterback wins that starting job, they would build the offense around him," Shough said. "They love my skill set in their base style offense with what I could do. I asked them about the quarterback situation and about Joe [Milton] as well because he's a freak athlete.
Shough's planned upcoming visits don't sound too threatening; he'll head to Indiana soon, and he may visit Cal after that. With a summer decision planned, Michigan is in great shape. 247's Steve Lorenz posted that the staff "killed it" with this visit and Shough is "all Michigan" unless they change course on taking two quarterbacks.
Meanwhile, here's a fun quote about Joe Miltonfrom his head coach:
The quarterback from Olympia High School in Orlando, Fla., is right-handed but, while moving to his left, he launches the ball about 50 yards in the air down the sideline and over a pair of defenders for a touchdown.
It's just one play - and the first one at that - in Milton's highlight video. But, it offers a glimpse of his talent and potential.
"There's no drill for that," Olympia coach Kyle Hayes said. "We don't do the 55-yard throw against the grain drill. That's just being an athlete and making a play."
The future at the position looks bright. Speaking of which, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2019 class, California native JT Daniels, will take his next unofficial visit to Michigan, per Scout's Greg Biggins. Daniels is fresh off a trip to Stanford. Please go away, Stanford.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Offered: Other Programs' Dudes
Michigan is sending out a ton of offers recently, mostly to 2019 recruits. The staff hasn't been afraid to boldly attempt to poach committed recruits from SEC schools essentially in their backyards.
Color me skeptical that Michigan can flip an LSU commit from Baton Rouge, but four-star 2018 LA ILB Damone Clark sounds open to the idea, per TMI's Brice Marich:
“I was actually surprised,” Clark told The Michigan Insider. “I didn’t think Michigan would actually offer me. You know how you’ll never think [a program] would offer? I thought they might be one. I didn’t expect it, so I’m stunned still. It means a lot because they didn’t have to offer me, but they see potential in me and did it.”
He says he's "very interested" in visiting campus. We'll see how that goes.
This next one looks more likely to produce something. Lorenz reports that five-star 2019 GA WR Jadon Haselwood, a Georgia commit, is planning to get to campus soon:
"I'm most definitely going to visit Michigan," Haselwood said on Sunday evening. "No set date yet, but I'm looking to head up there sometime this summer."
That might give Kirby Smart an aneurysm.
A few other recent offers have gone out to uncommitted prospects. Three-star 2018 TN OT Jerome Carvin said he "definitely will visit" Ann Arbor after Michigan's offer made him reexamine his top group, per TMI's Brice Marich:
Carvin planned to start narrowing down his list of suitors fairly soon, but after landing this offer from the Maize and Blue, he now has some more thinking to do.
“The offer definitely shook some things up for me and probably pushed back my top 10 that I was dropping after my spring ball,” said Carvin. “It’s a very good chance (Michigan makes my new top list)."
Carvin's offer sheet is not that of a three-star's: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Louisville, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech are also on it.
Michigan also offered five-star 2019 TX S Brian Williams, who says he's still "wide open" to the point he hasn't planned upcoming visits, per 247's Isaiah Hole. Four-star 2019 CA DT Matthew Pola-Mao also added an offer, per Marich.
Call Him, Maybe?
The Wolverine's Brandon Brown caught up with several prospects at a recent Columbus Rivals camp, including guard commit Emil Ekiyor, whose contact with the staff apparently hasn't been consistent:
Ekiyor still considers himself a solid Michigan commit but communication has fallen off quite a bit in recent months. Alabama is making a hard push for him and he's just trying to figure out if he's still wanted in U-M's class. He plans to spend a night or two in Ann Arbor very soon to get a feel for where things stand and will go from there.
Hopefully the visit clears that up. Ekiyor is an excellent prospect and Michigan certainly has been recruiting like they plan to keep him in the fold (see: McCall, Marquan).
Mmmmmmmmkay
Today in "coaches say things that sounded smarter in their heads," here's an unnamed coach reacting to the new rules allowing early official visits:
1 said he thinks some recruits will take officials early then still want to visit later on, so it will still cost $$ https://t.co/IuXhsoZ9Vi
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) May 15, 2017
/thinking face emoji
He wasn't alone in missing the point entirely, at least.
Etc.
Four-star Grand Rapids Catholic Central OT Jalen Mayfield, whose decision is coming up later this month, is now 247's top-ranked player in the state. Their best player in Michigan looks very likely to play for Michigan.
Four-star NC DT Rick Sandidge, who recently included Michigan in his top 11 schools, tells Scout's Michael Clark that M is one of four schools after him the hardest, along with North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida State. He plans to visit Ann Arbor soon.
Not a great look, Wisconsin.